Archaeologists in Cambridge (England) have unearthed the first hard evidence that an area of the city was occupied during the Bronze Age. The remains were found during a dig at Fitzwilliam College and probably belonged to a 3,500-year-old farmstead. The remains comprise a series of ditches, in which the team found pieces of antler, flint tools, pottery and animal remains.
The items were discovered by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit during an archaeological survey ahead of the building of the new library in the college grounds. Christopher Evans, from the Unit, said the site would help people understand the early development of the city. "The site is extremely intriguing and looks rather incongruous amid the modern college buildings. It appears to be the remains of an agricultural settlement," he added.
Plenty of Bronze Age remains have been found elsewhere in Cambridgeshire - notably in the Addenbrooke's and Peterborough areas, and the lower reaches of River Great Ouse - but this is the first time that anything from the period (3500 to 1100 BCE) has been found in the city of Cambridge itself. Prehistorians also know there was an Iron Age settlement nearby, at Castle Hill, during the 1st century BCE. The same site was later used by the Romans, who established the town in the mid 1st century CE.